In container handling installations, in particular in an installation that is used by a beverage manufacturer in the beverages industry for filling containers with a liquid bulk product, it is often necessary to provide lifting devices that press beverage containers, such as glass bottles, against a handling station. In the event of faults in the filling machine, regular cleaning routines or product changes, it is necessary to clean the filling machine. To achieve this, it is common for filling machines to be fitted with rinse caps that close the outlets of the filling valves and so allow an internal circulation of cleaning media.
Some filling valves have a central filling pipe that is inserted into the bottle during the filling process. For these cases, the rinse cap must be made in the shape of a sleeve or beaker.
DE 37 22 495 discloses a filling machine with a lifting device for bottles in which, on each lifting device, an arm with one end is fixed such that it can swivel around a swivel axis that lies on a horizontal plane, i.e. on a plane that is both perpendicular to the filling machine axis and perpendicular to the axis along which the lifting device lifts. On the other end of the arm, a rinse sleeve is attached. By swiveling the arm out of a rest position, in which the rinse sleeve is arranged radially offset from the filling element axis and with its open side pointing downwards, one can swivel it into a prepared position or intermediate position. In this position, the rinse sleeve lies on the same axis as the filling element axis, with its open side pointing upwards and with its top side being gripped from underneath by a forked container carrier on an edge or flange radially distanced over the circumference of the rinse sleeve. By means of the lifting device, which also serves to press the particular bottle, during filling, against the filling element, the rinse sleeve is then moved out of the intermediate position into a work position.
A disadvantage of this arrangement is that to move the rinse sleeve out of the rest position into the work position, a not inconsiderable space is required. Furthermore, the known lifting device requires a container or bottle carrier that grips the bottles to be filled from underneath on a mouth bead.
DE 43 43 425 A1 discloses a filling machine with a lifting device for bottles. On this lifting device there is a folding container plate and an auxiliary lifting device with an integrated rinse sleeve. The auxiliary lifting device can be moved pneumatically between a rest position and a work position. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that to move the container carrier, a not inconsiderable space is again required.